Chapter 594: Divide and Conquer

"Haha!" Di Hu, who was restrained, suddenly laughed foolishly. "Bringing students to demand an explanation? How ridiculous!"

"You bastard, you still dare to laugh?" Di Zhu tightened his grip. "Your life is in my hands right now, and you're still acting so arrogant?"

"I just couldn't hold back; not laughing would make me feel suffocated..." Di Hu chuckled a few times. "You beat and scold your own students, threaten them with their lives to hand over the 'Dao,' and now when things get life-threatening, you drag them along to fight for you... How on earth do you have the nerve, you dwarf?"

"I manage my own students strictly myself—what's the problem with that?" Di Zhu sneered. "I don't think that bunch of fools would dare rebel against me here."

"Yes." Hei Yang, standing opposite Di Zhu, spoke up. "Your students may not rebel against you, but they are still pitiful."

"Oh?" Di Zhu furrowed his brow and looked at him. "What profound insight do you have?"

"You probably don't know yet." Hei Yang sneered. "Your senior disciple, Ren Zhu, turned to Yang Ge for help in his most desperate moment, not to you."

"What...?"

"How about it? Your senior disciple gambled his life against the 'Can Yu Zhe' and died—do you want to pretend you don't know?" Di Yang mocked. "I heard he often defied your orders? But when I saw him communicating with Yang Ge, he was so humble, bold, resourceful, and full of ideas. Such a great person... how did he end up with no way out, kneeling before Yang Ge?"

Di Zhu's expression shifted dramatically, looking extremely angry.

"Oh, is it because he became your student that he had no way out?" Di Yang tossed his iron rod aside and said, "Di Zhu, whether you admit it or not, you're just a paper tiger now. You've gotten used to throwing your weight around at the 'Ren Ji' level, but we at the 'Di Ji' level aren't afraid of you."

Seeing that Di Zhu remained silent, Di Yang continued, "As I said before, I have a few things I want to say to you. You might want to listen first before deciding whether to crush that dumb cat in your hand."

"You son of a bitch, who are you calling a dumb cat?!" Di Hu flared up and struggled to turn his head toward Di Zhu. "Dwarf, you can kill me, that's fine, but after you do, make sure you take out that dark and shady thing too, or I won't die happy!"

"What gives you the right to order me around?"

"Did I order your mother around?!" Di Hu cursed. "What, you're bold when it comes to killing me, but you're chicken when it comes to killing Hei Yang? What's your problem?!"

Di Zhu's eyes darted around, and he looked up at Di Yang. "What exactly do you want to say?"

"I..." Di Yang glanced at Di Ma, who was on the ground clutching her ankle and groaning in pain, and asked, "I want to know how she relayed the message to you."

"Hmm?" Di Zhu looked at Di Ma, then back at Di Yang. "What do you mean?"

"You're not a fool, are you?" Di Yang laughed. "Are you that fired up? You actually started a brawl in front of so many 'Di Ji' level people based on someone else's words... The message you heard must be different from what we heard, right?"

At that moment, Di Shu also sneered and stepped forward. "The leader Yang is right, Pig Leader. You seem like a smart person, so how are you letting yourself be used like a fool? Was this fight your idea, or someone else's?"

After hearing this, Di Zhu seemed to realize something and lowered his head to look at Di Ma. "Hey... you wouldn't... be deceiving me, would you?"

"I..." Di Ma didn't speak, but her hesitant expression said it all.

"Damn it..." Di Zhu released Di Hu, stepped forward, bent down, and grabbed Di Ma by the collar. "It wasn't arranged by 'Tian Ma' at all, was it?!"

"Don't waver... Pig Bro..." Di Ma said with a pained smile, "Even if it wasn't arranged by 'Tian Ma,' if you take them down, you can still claim credit..."

"Claim credit...? Do you think that's what I want?" Di Zhu's expression gradually turned cold. "How many merits have I earned over the years? That's not what I'm after at all. What I want is a 'promise'... a promise from 'Tian'!"

"It's the same... Pig Bro... as long as you take them down, it's the same..."

"It's not the same!! I'm just one step away... If they just say the word, I can definitely get promoted..." Di Zhu gritted his teeth and said, "I've already killed enough—three thousand five hundred and ninety-nine people... I only need one more 'Can Yu Zhe' to complete the task. Do you think I haven't finished it? I've been waiting for 'Tian Ji' to give the go-ahead! Today, that group in leather clothes came strutting in front of me, and I had to deliberately let them all survive—you have no idea how frustrating that is!"

After hearing this, Hei Yang narrowed his eyes and exchanged a glance with Di Shu.

"Hold on..." Hei Yang said, "Di Zhu, why haven't you killed enough to reach three thousand six hundred? What are you waiting for?"

"I..." Di Zhu paused briefly, then sighed. "I'm waiting for a chance to be promoted to 'Tian Ji' with absolute certainty. I don't want to end up like Bai Yang..."

"You..."

Everyone in the room widened their eyes at these words.

"If I'm not mistaken... Bai Yang never got promoted at all..." Di Zhu said, his whole body trembling involuntarily. "He was such a fool. In the 'Zhong Yan Zhi Di,' he could go against anyone, but he had to challenge 'Tian Long'—that person is a 'god' above everyone... Do you know why the 'Sheng Xiao' never 'responds'...?"

"...Why?"

"Because 'responding' could shake 'Tian Long's' position..." Di Zhu lowered his head and said, "Either 'Xian Fa' or 'Shen Li'—'Tian Long' divided these two powers to manage things more easily, giving them to the 'Can Yu Zhe' and the 'Sheng Xiao'... We 'Sheng Xiao' might be physically strong, but we're ultimately just fragile stone giants, worthless in front of Tian Long. And the 'Can Yu Zhe' are even more laughable—a bunch of mortals who can use 'Xian Fa,' lightly risking qi deviation, or worse, destroying themselves... For 'Tian Long' to pull off something like that, and yet someone still tries to topple him..."

After hearing this, everyone's expressions changed. Di Zhu, as a veteran here, had survived by playing it safe, and he seemed to know more intelligence than any other 'Sheng Xiao.'

"It sounds like another form of divide and rule..." Di Shu nodded, smiling again as he stepped forward and asked, "Pig Leader, I still want to ask—why do you think Bai Yang failed to get promoted?"